Madamab wrote a thoughtful and spot-on piece today about the opportunity we now have to grow our movement into a permanent, powerful voting bloc. How do we do that and what do we do as we’re doing it are the questions I’ve been obsessing about since last Tuesday. I’m happy today (alright, I’m ALMOST happy today) because I’m beginning to understand the importance of our current position. Yes, we are in the ashes of the Democratic Party. As Democracy in Suffrage pointed out today, it was DEMOCRATS who gave the win to Proposition Hate. It was DEMOCRATS who turned their back on public financing, AND women, and the working class. We were the avant-garde in this election. Pumas have known for a LONG time how broken our party is and how PERNICIOUS the media is. We weren’t a big enough bloc to change the outcome of the election, but now we have one precious asset: TIME. We have time to build and grow. Time to put our talents and skills to use for our movement. Time to listen, learn, and lead. As the Precious Presidency unravels (as I’m pretty sure it will), we will be building a media and political presence that will be a refuge and a resource to the increasingly huge number of citizens who are outraged and disillusioned by the Fraud. Texas Tigress pointed out to me today that there are still MILLIONS of Demcocrats who voted for Clinton and either tepidly supported or outright rejected The One. Let’s start with ourselves. We’re still here, and my guess is we’ll keep growing as more and more Democrats come back to the traditional values of our party. Shucks, there are probably enough Americans out there sickened today by the idea of Michelle Obama as the Mom In Chief (her new ROLE according to the NYT today. OMG, pass the airsick bag.) to triple our ranks. SO, Step One is to grow the Pumasphere. There are zillions of talented and committed Pumas reading these words who have something of value to contribute. I’ve updated the blogroll and will continue to do so. But there’s much more YOU can do. Sheri and I talked last night about the new Puma Coalition — similar to the Just Say No Deal coalition which formed after Clinton’s suspension. Please visit it at www.votepuma.com and add your site to the blogroll by sending Sheri an email. Here are the main areas we are going to focus on for the next year. 1. Media Critique. Chris CRACKLE Matthews says it’s the job of the SCFP to “help” obama. That’s a terrifying statement. Our job as Pumas is to wake people up to just how terrifying it is. We’re working on a Media Tatters website to serve as an alternative and a resource for those fleeing the CRACKLE. We need help. Will you help by reading, watching, and listening to the SCFP and alerting us to CRACKLE? The website is almost finished, but until then, please post links to CRACKLE in the CRACKLE Forum in the left sidebar. 2. President Precious Critique. The SCFP Love Fest will continue unabated. The Race Card WILL be played. The Puma Movement will be a constant thorn in the side of The Precious. And don’t accuse me of being a Hater. I’m not a hater. If obama becomes an effective, transformational, and inspiring president, well that’s great. I’m not holding my breath, and there needs to be someone and someplace where the Rose Colored Love Glasses are not worn. That’s us. 3. Democratic Party Reform. This is our most challenging job. Boy oh boy are we up against it in this department. The DONC is now firmly ensconced and the media is SWOONING, so it will take time to build leverage for this. The only entrenched power with the means and the motivation to help us is the Republican Party, and um, no thanks. SO, it’s up to us. This effort will build more slowly as the dust settles and we seek out and find allies. What kind of skills and contributions are needed? 1. Researching 2. Writing 3. Organizing 4. Fundraising The next weeks will be exciting ones as we start to pull our act together and get going. What can YOU help with? Let us know in comments. And in the short term, Puma PAC will be participating in the Proposition Hate protests scheduled for November 15th. Please provide any links you have to information about the protests in comments. And here’s a happy song to make you smile. I’ll be posting a Happy Song every day until I get a damn smile out of every last one of yous!